January 2008
38 posts
WatchBritney Spears, Fox News, and the terrible cost of a life in journalism.
"Lost," Season 4: Let Us Catch You Up.
A quick recap: Jack and his sister Claire and their long-lost other sister, Chrissy, who reappeared on the island in a puff of smoke just after brunch on Thursday, have gone off in search of the mysterious “Mr. Furley,” who is rumored to know where the keys to the Jetski are hidden. Kate and Sawyer have constructed a crude superconducting super collider out of reeds and shells and...
“Please be patient and good-humored as we get underway.”
– From “Evolution of Security,” the new TSA weblog. …Also, please remove your shoes, belt and any Runic, Kabbala, or Wiccan jewelry as you read. Please place any fluids, including those currently contained within your bloodstream and/or glandular system, into small plastic bags....
Embeddedness.
Is it just me, or is there something distasteful about MSNBC’s use of the word “embeds” to describe its people traveling with the presidential campaigns? That’s EM-beds, the plural noun that first came into currency with the journalists sent into the war zone under Pentagon auspices in 2003. It didn’t take MSNBC long to appropriate it — this 2004 page served up...
Instapaper. →
Dead simple and brilliantly useful.
Being funny. →
By Steve Martin. Do yourself a favor and click through to the accompanying video, which features not only a young Martin on the Carson-era Tonight Show, but a sportcoat that has to be seen to be believed.
Engineer unlocks Wii's hidden potential. →
A Carnegie-Mellon researcher has reprogrammed a Wii remote control to serve as a virtual-reality head tracker and a “finger-pointing multitouch user device,” according to CNET. Sadly, Johnny Chung Lee’s academic career was cut short when the Wii achieved self-awareness, sealed the doors to the lab and killed him.
How long before the last, flickering light of... →
TV Guide has the answer, in handy chart form. Happy viewing, America.
You know what having a highly-commented post on...
It’s like you’re standing on a street corner and you shout an opinion into the wind. A guy who overhears it comes over and starts attacking you for it. Then another guy comes over and starts attacking the first guy. Two more people wander by. The first didn’t actually hear what you said, but it reminds him of this other thing he heard once that made him mad; the second...
HuffPo: Clinton to Obama -- "Oh, just get out of... →
Haggis by mail. →
Only two problems:
1) It’s illegal, and
2) it’s haggis.
“Everyone: I learned on the first leg of our tour of Tribune’s business units...”
– Memo to Tribune properties from new CEO Sam Zell.
NYPD and Secret Service to Rudy (1998): "Hey, you... →
“This is a ‘release day’ for Minneapolis public schools. Yes, that’s...”
– Lileks.
Dan Krall, illustrator. →
29 things to be happy about. →
Mark Morford rules.
Ohio man sentenced to spend one night as homeless... →
Thomas Nathen Smith was ordered by a Municipal Court judge to surrender his wallet and keys. Smith was reported to be remorseful for “exactly as long as it took him to borrow a cell phone, dial a number and say ‘Dude, I gotta crash on your couch tonight.’”
Monkey Picked Tea. →
It’s bracing and refreshing, redolent of tannins, with a delightful touch of rosemary and just a hint of whatever the monkey had on its paws.
The Bond You Never Knew.
Movie nerds on both sides of the Atlantic are reacting to the news that the 22nd James Bond film will be titled “Quantum of Solace,” and the reaction can be summed up this way: “Whaaa… ?” This time, the movie nerds have it right. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the phrase, which is taken from Ian Fleming’s short-story collection “For Your...
When I say "Bacon Martini," please note that I... →
And just kiss it with the Scrapple, will you?
Area 51 has a new name: Homey Airport. →
Other recently-renamed sites: Glowy Gardens (formerly Three Mile Island) New Venice (formerly Love Canal) Happyshinygrad (formerly Chernobyl)
More bad news for print media: Idiot criminals... →
Meanwhile, in football heaven, Tom Landry stomps...
John Mueller quantifies the precise degree to which the upcoming “Rambo” is more awesome than its predecessors. Even awesomer: There is an actual Woody Hayes chair in National Security Studies at Ohio State. Via The Wow Report.
"Hey, you really want to do me a favor? Don't be... →
One Geezer To Go, Please
One of the last things my former employer, Mr. Irresponsible, blogged before disappearing to Dubai was governer (and bassist) Mike Huckabee’s 2006 pardon of Keith Richards. Now Slate’s invaluable Hot Documents has the actual paperwork. It seems to confirm Mr. Irresponsible’s original read on the pardon: “There isn’t a bass player alive who wouldn’t swallow...
WatchHow dinner at Applebee’s is, and isn’t, like going to a rave.
Memo
FROM: Me TO: Every single sentient being in the universe Hi. Could you do me a favor? Please, please, please stop telling me that I have to start watching “The Wire” RIGHT NOW, THIS SECOND. I’m sure it’s as good as you say it is. But I’m starting to get that same feeling I got a couple years ago when — remember? — you started leaning on me about the...
Falwell in Hell. →
When I say "cheese-filled deep-fried bacon... →
I, for one, welcome our new cockroach overlords. →
HuffPo: More Secret Scientology Abbreviations. →
WatchVigilante justice… Pez style.
Fun with Flash. →
Now featuring 33% more flames!
I Stayed Up With Jerry. →
From Newsweek, Sept. 21, 1987. Reproduced here in celebration of the story’s 20th anniversary, plus a couple months. (PDF, 6.6 MB.)
